As another monsoon knocks on the doors of Bengaluru, many low-lying areas are likely to face flooding once again in the IT City. One such locality is the Rainbow Drive Layout near Sarjapur Road, which is prone to flooding due to the laxity of municipal body BBMP, say residents.
The upmarket neighbourhood was inundated in the previous monsoon following torrential rain. Rainbow Drive Layout is situated between two lakes, Halanayakanahalli (upstream lake) and Saul Kere (downstream) lake. In the absence of a stormwater drain, the gated community was inundated with the overflow of the upstream lake during the rains last year.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now started building a stormwater drain from the upstream lake along the layout and connecting it to a parallel drain being built at the entrance of the area.
While the construction work has begun, a few residents of this gated community who wished to remain anonymous stated that the work is unlikely to be completed soon, thereby once again putting them at risk of inundation.
That’s not the end of the woes of the locals. A wall was being built by some of the residents of the gated community at the periphery of the layout to prevent water gushing in immediately during flooding to give them some time to vacate the area. However, others objected to this, stating that the wall might block the natural flow of water and cause waterlogging on the other side of the layout, which would have an impact on the farmlands and villagers there. Following six notices from the BBMP in the previous six months, the construction of the wall has been brought to a halt, but the incomplete structure remains, which could still cause waterlogging and pose a threat to the villagers and farmlands on the other side of Rainbow Drive.
The locality was flooded four times in the previous year following heavy rains of 90mm in the monsoon season after which the residents had moved to a safer place from the low-lying area. With water rising more than 6 feet, hundreds of people left the neighbourhood and the State Disaster Response Force team had deployed its staff along with boats to help evacuate people. Children in the area were taken to their schools on tractors as it was difficult to drive them on two-wheelers or cars through the knee-deep water. Efforts were made to pump out floodwater from the stormwater drain and clear the roads.
Following the civic apathy, the residents had taken to the streets, protesting against the BBMP over its inaction to resolve the issue immediately. Despite multiple requests and letters written to the area MLA and civic authorities, the construction work of the stormwater drain is still progressing at a snail’s pace, leaving the residents once again at risk of flooding during the imminent monsoon season.
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